Orbitz.com - travel problems with Orbitz and ATA airlines - RT flight Washington, DC to Juneau, Alaska

# 10 for June 10, 2003

Complaints.com received the following on June 9, 2003:

From: Singer, Mike (Washington) [Email User]

RE: Orbitz.com - travel problems with Orbitz and ATA airlines - RT flight Washington, DC to Juneau, Alaska I am writing to tell you about my recent experience with Orbitz and ATA. In March we booked our summer vacation through Orbitz. The reservation included flying ATA from Washington, DC to Seattle and Alaska Air from Seattle to Juneau, Alaska on August 21. The return flights were booked for August 30th with the same airlines. The Orbitz locator code is Q615Q67T. The ATA locator code is IDGDOT. I was sent paper tickets because I was told that e-tickets were not an option for this itinerary. On June 8th, I received an email from Orbitz informing me that there had been a significant change in my itinerary. I called customer service and was informed that the 8:00pm return flight from Chicago to Washington had been cancelled. I asked what my options were and was put on hold while the Orbitz rep contacted ATA. When she returned I was told that I would have to call ATA directly to arrange either a refund, or a new flight. I had always thought that one of the functions of a travel service was to deal with the travel providers on behalf of the customer and was a little disappointed that I was told I had to deal with the provider directly. When I called ATA and explained our situation, I was given three options. Take a 7:00am flight on the 30th, a 7:00pm flight on the 31st, or request a refund. I explained that the 7:00am flight was an impossibility since I would be in the air at the time. I was told that I could try to change my Alaska Air flight thus shortening my vacation to accommodate ATA's cancellation. Since I was not about to start mucking with the reservation of the only company that hadn't failed me yet, I asked if there were any reparations that ATA could make if I took the later flight. Taking this later flight would cost us a night's stay in a hotel, meals in Chicago, and an extra day's boarding fee for our pets at the kennel. I was told I would receive up to $99 for a hotel but I would have to find and book it myself and then submit it to ATA for reimbursement.

This seemed to be overly arduous since it is clear that ATA must have connections with the local hotels for their pilots and flight attendants and could very easily book us a room on their account and save me the trouble of requesting a reimbursement. I was told it was not done that way and the reason why they required the reimbursement process was because, in the past, some travelers had accepted money and then dared to pocket it and stay with friends or family. I responded that it should not matter to ATA whether I spend the $99 on a hotel room or not. If they were willing to make that commitment to atone for inconveniencing us, they should not care how I chose to use the money. I then asked what the process of requesting a refund was. She told me that since I had purchased paper tickets instead of e-tickets, I would have to either wait in line at an airport ticket counter our mail them back to my travel agent. I told them I would weigh these three unappealing choices and get back. I then called Orbitz back and asked if they could keep the Alaska Air reservations and rebook another airline for the DC to Seattle portion. I was told that only ATA could cancel any portion of this since the entire trip was booked through them. I was also told that I could not keep the Alaska Air portion if I did not keep the ATA portions since ATA did the booking. I thought it was booked through Orbitz but what would I know? I would first have to cancel the entire trip and then I could rebook it. I called ATA back and told them I would like to cancel the entire reservation. I was told that they were not able to cancel the Alaska Air portion until they got the paper tickets. I responded that I could not safely book Alaska Air on my own if I still had a reservation on them. I was told to talk to Orbitz. Luckily, I have 3 way calling and was able to add Orbitz on to the call. I told the two reps that they needed to figure out a way to cancel my reservations so I could safely make new ones. After exchanging the proper information, Orbitz said they now had a waiver from ATA and could cancel the reservations. I can just imagine how much more effort this would have taken from me if I didn't have 3 way calling. I was told by Orbitz that I had to mail the paper tickets back and then I would get a credit on my Master Card within 3 billing cycles. I told them that potentially 3 months to get my money back was ludicrous since I was going to have to pay to re-book the vacation myself. I was told that maybe the credit might come sooner but they could not guarantee it. I then went and booked the trip on my own using Southwest Airlines to get from Baltimore to Seattle and rebooking Alaska Air for the Seattle to Alaska portion. This ended up being the only way I could book the trip for around the same cost as the original booking since I lost the advantage of booking several months in advance. This will be a great inconvenience since we cannot check bags all the way through and will have to do a week's vacation taking only carry-ons now. Paying more for a better itinerary was not really an alternative since I have no idea when I am going to get the nearly $2,000 back that I am owed. Since the paper tickets being received in the hands of Orbitz is a requirement for the refund, I also face the expense of using an express carrier and purchasing $2,000 worth of insurance. This ended up costing me $26. All in all, the experience with Orbitz was costing me real money and, since, I had to do so much work in canceling the reservation, and re-booking it myself, I can actually say that not only did Orbitz not provide any positive service, but had actually provided negative service. Although, I was not thrilled with Orbitz, I was willing to write the experience off to bad luck related to ATA's flight cancellation. I was not going to make an issue out of Orbitz holding my $2,000 hostage for up to 3 months, being unable to keep the air legs that I still wanted, needing so much of my assistance in canceling the reservation, and making me incur so much real expense for sending back the tickets. I then went through my credit card records so that I would know on which card I would eventually be getting the credit. I noticed that not only were there charges for the airfare but there was also a $45 service fee. That was the last straw. There was absolutely no way that I should be charged a fee for the incredible lack of service provided by Orbitz. I called Orbitz to see if I could get that fee credited. I was told that there was no way to refund this since I agree to the non-refundable fee when I made the reservation and there was a real cost to mailing me the tickets (the postage was $1.06).

I responded that most companies, when they realized that they were unable to provide adequate service for whatever reason, would refund such a fee regardless of the fine print on a web page. I asked to speak to a supervisor and was told the exact same thing. According to Orbitz, by mailing out the tickets, they had fulfilled their obligation and earned the $45. I pointed out that since they were not able to keep me on the Alaska Air flights, I could make a pretty good case that they did not fulfill their obligations. She answered that "that's just the way it's done when you book a trip with multiple airlines." I am thoroughly disgusted with Orbitz and mildly disappointed with ATA. It is clear that trying to make it up to the customer when circumstances go bad is not high on either companies' priority list.